Lightning Strikes
by Ewa Snow
Summary: Josef and Connor get drunk in New York City. Then Connor solves a problem for Josef. Highlander x-over.


Disclaimer: I own nothing. It all belongs to someone who ain't me.

Thanks to talon1321 for doing the beta thing!

Basics of Highlander at the bottom of the page.

* * *

New York City 2010

Josef gave Sarah one last look before heading out for a drink. He didn't feel like charming a freshie, though. Socializing at one of the more high end vampire clubs wasn't appetizing, either. He gave his driver an address. Lady Luck wasn't always with him, but hopefully she'd understand his need tonight.

The antique store hadn't changed much. Everything was real, and the age of it all made him relax a bit more. It was about to close in five minutes, but that didn't matter.

The mortal who wasn't came out from behind the desk and gave Josef a small grin. "Josef."

"Connor," Josef greeted back, shaking hands. "Feel like a game of chess?"

"Maybe a drink or eight?" Connor asked before chuckling. "Head up stairs while I close up. You know where everything is."

Josef found the man's best alcohol and poured two glasses. Connor took one before digging the chess set out of trunk. "How's the family?"

Connor spent the next ten minutes filling the silence. Josef honestly listened, though he didn't comment much or ask any questions. The chess game was a way to occupy their hands and the other half of their minds.

"How's yours?" Connor asked once he was done.

Josef looked up. Connor hadn't mentioned someone, and wasn't likely to forget her. "Rachel?"

"Pneumonia last Christmas." The answer was gruff, the pain still raw.

Josef had thought her scent had dissipated from the store, but he didn't think she had died. "My condolences." He meant it, too. Loving a mortal took more strength and guts then loving another immortal. An immortal had to have a massive amount of bravery to do it more than once. Connor had not only loved a mortal, he had raised her. Daughter, cousin, aunt. Rachel had been as much family as anyone could get. And now she was gone, like so many others.

Connor nodded once in thanks. The heartache would pass in time. After refilling both their glasses, they shared a silent toast. He let a few more minutes pass quietly before repeating his question.

Josef updated Connor as best he could. He didn't keep in touch with most of his fledglings. They tended to drift in his direction once a decade. Mostly he told Connor about L.A.

Chess and scotch passed the next few hours. Not a whole lot was said after the family updates. Connor could sense Josef just wasn't in the mood tonight. Tomorrow night, probably. That's usually how it went. Josef would show up unannounced and in a melancholy mood. They would play chess and get drunk with only the background city noises filling their ears. At some point, Connor would offer his wrist, knowing he had no other food for his guest. Josef never drained him, but it was a bit more blood loss than a mortal could handle. They would finish the game, Josef would leave, and the next night they would meet at the bar they first encountered each other fifty odd years ago. Bar and club hopping would ensue, and then they'd go another five or so years without giving much thought to the other.

Tonight, however, was different. There was something about Josef he couldn't pin down. Connor was drunk enough to bring up what he never had before.

"You don't come to New York just to catch up."

Josef didn't have to answer. Connor wouldn't hate him for staying silent. But they were both drunker than usual; Connor had more due to his grief, and Josef had then fed on that intoxicated blood. Josef examined the queen for a moment and picked it up. "Her name is Sarah."

The story spiraled out of him. Chess pieces were moved almost unconsciously. Josef told Connor more than he had ever told Mick. The younger vampire would've just felt sorry for Josef. The older immortal just poured him another drink.

* * *

The next night...

Connor and Josef were walking towards the next bar when they stopped he felt it. The buzz of immortality. He cursed and Josef raised an eyebrow.

"Trouble?"

Connor nodded and looked around.

"Hey, Nash!"

The sigh of relief was obvious. "Thank God," Connor muttered.

The man that walked up to them was smiling wide. "I'm glad it was just you."

Connor grinned. "Same here. Now get home, kid."

"Whatever you say, old timer." The man jogged off, hailing a taxi.

"Friend?" Josef asked.

Connor shook his head. "Acquaintance. He was an unlucky bystander when the Kurgan swept through. I let Casey teach him."

Josef chuckled. "Let, or made?"

Connor just smirked. At a street corner, he grew serious and faced Josef. "I've been thinking."

"Uh-oh."

"Quiet, man, I'm serious."

Josef shut up and stopped grinning. He could smell the slight fear that Connor was trying to hide. "Okay, I'm listening."

"What if she's pre-immortal?"

Josef's world slowed down and grew silent. Pre-immortal. She had been adopted, though no one could honestly tell. But the records were there. He had read them himself.

Connor didn't know if bringing this up was a good thing or bad. If he was wrong, it would hurt Josef even more. But if he was right... After fifty years, anything was worth a shot. "Well?"

Josef snapped back to reality. "She's adopted. Left on an orphanage doorstep." He called his driver to pick them up.

"Then there's a chance."

Twenty minutes later they were standing next to Sarah's bed. Connor put a hand on her arm. The tiniest spark of a Quickening. His grin was all the sign Josef needed. They began to disconnection the medical equipment.

Connor looked across the bed. "Drain her completely. She has to die."

Josef nodded and sat beside her. Vampire blood wasn't all that nutritious, but he didn't care at the moment. All that mattered was making sure every drop left her.

Connor could almost feel her Quickening grow stronger. It had been unnoticeable until he had touched her. But now it grew as the vampirism left her. Fifty years it had waited, suppressed by an undead power.

Sarah died for just a moment.

Josef smelled the faintest hint of ozone as her Quickening jump started her body. He could smell the decay being reversed, her body returning to a mortal state that wasn't. Blood refilled her veins and arteries, her heart started to pump, slowly but steady. All the tiny signs of life swamped Josef, feeding his joy.

Sarah gasped as life fully returned to her. Her eyes instantly met Josef's, and she smiled.

* * *

Notes:

1- Highlander immortals have a Quickening that revives them after their first death. Only decapitation will kill them permanently, the Quickening heals everything else, and revives them if they're killed by any other means. They sense other immortals through the Quickening. They don't age, either. Like vampires, the public doesn't know about them.

Connor was worried when he sensed the other immortal because there are immortals who go around decapitating others of their kind to steal the power of the Quickening. You really don't need to know about the Game to read this fic.

2- In Archangel, Methos said he never heard of demons. 5,000 years and never encountering something more than human or immortal? Yeah, right. Far too many ancient cultures have some kind of vampire myth. How could so many different people believe the same thing unless there was a hint of truth to it? Therefore, immortals and vampires know about the other in my world.

3- Josef was born in 1599, according to The Ringer. The first movie states Connor was born in 1518. I'm ignoring Connor's death. And Sarah's probably not adopted.

4- Quickenings don't activate until the first death. Turning someone brings them to the brink of death, at least in Moonlight. Since the turning process makes someone undead, the Quickening doesn't have a completely dead body to fill.

5- I've no doubt the Kurgan killed more than just immortals during his rampage through the city.


End file.
